Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a 2023 action-adventure game developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. The game is part of the Avatar franchise, and was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on December 7, 2023. It received mixed reviews from critics.

Gameplay
The single-player campaign has a first-person perspective to control a Na'vi orphan. Pandora is a large open world divided into three distinct regions, each with unique biomes, quests, and inhabitants. The character had been raised and trained as a soldier by the Resources Development Administration (RDA), was put into suspended animation, and awakened sixteen years later in an abandoned facility. The player journeys across the Western Frontier, a previously unseen region of Pandora, discovering the character's origins, and organizing the local Na'vi tribes to fight back against the RDA as they attempt to exploit the natural resources of the Western Frontier. The standalone story is partially tied to the films. The game also supports two-player cooperative multiplayer.

The player can use "Na'vi sense" to highlight interactable objects, and vulnerable points of enemies. The player is equipped with both RDA weapons like assault rifles and shotguns, and Na'vi weapons such as bows and arrows and spear throwers to combat enemies. Progression and quest completion will unlock better gear, improving combat performance. Ammo, throwables, and other consumables can be crafted using materials collected in the wilds. Animals can be hunted, though using firearms on them will prevent the collection of crafting resources. Players can gain "Clan Favor" by defeating RDA troops, helping fellow Na'vi, and progressing. This can be used to purchase rare weapons armor, and crafting materials. The player character is very agile, with advanced acrobatic feats such as double jumping. The character can ride on a flying ikran creature to quickly navigate the world.

Plot
In the year 2146, eight years before Jake Sully arrives on Pandora, the RDA sets up The Ambassador Program (TAP) led by Dr. Alma Cortez and RDA Director John Mercer, with the goal of training five young Na'vi children: the player (referred as "the Sarentu"), Ri'nela, Aha'ri, Teylan, and Nor, to be Na'vi-human ambassadors. However, the Na'vi children remember they were kidnapped from their clans and chafe under Mercer's strict curriculum, culminating in them attempting to escape. Mercer shoots and kills Aha'ri to terrorize them into giving up. Eight years later though, the RDA's loss against Jake's army forces the remaining RDA forces to evacuate Pandora. Mercer orders the now adult-Na'vi students to be executed as liabilities, but Alma defies him and leads the students to a cryogenic life-suspension chamber so they can hide.

The students are awakened sixteen years later by Na'vi resistance fighters working with Alma and narrowly escape the facility when an RDA force led by Mercer returns to eliminate the students. The Sarentu is able to escape and reunite their friends, before joining Alma and her team of ex-RDA personnel. After succeeding in their first mission to destroy an RDA energy mining operation, the Sarentu manages to make a connection with Eywa, the living spirit of Pandora, and communes with their ancestors to learn about the nearly extinct Sarentu clan. However, the RDA steps up their aggression by launching a raid on Alma's hideout. The Sarentu is able to hold them off long enough to catch the attention of the Aranahae clan, who welcome them; however, their leader Ka'nat remains reluctant to start a war against the technologically superior RDA.

Eventually, the RDA's continued encroachment into Na'vi lands begins to provoke the Zeswa clan, and the Sarentu takes it upon themselves to destroy RDA facilities and forge an alliance between the clans, culminating in them forcing the RDA to abandon a critical facility. Despite the major victory, Nor begins to voice his resentment against Alma for failing to protect them from Mercer, which causes a schism between him, and Teylan before the RDA ambushes their base and captures the Sarentu. Alma's lieutenant, Billy Nash, rescues the Sarentu at the cost of his own life. The Sarentu links back up with the Resistance, only to find that Alma and many others are afflicted with an illness caused by an RDA chemical weapon and that Teylan has apparently deserted. The Sarentu approaches the local Kame'tire clan to provide healing, and in the process discovers the existence of another TAP facility called TAP Con-1.

Investigating TAP Con-1, the Sarentu learns that a traitor within the Kame'tire tipped off Mercer about the location of the Sarentu clan, resulting in the clan being massacred and Mercer taking the surviving children to raise as soldiers loyal to him. With the traitor exposed, the Kame'tire leader Anufi agrees to atone for the betrayal by healing the sick Resistance members. Nor abandons the Resistance, though not before fatally stabbing Alma in her Avatar body. Before her Na'vi form dies and she returns to her original human body, Alma conveys her memories to the Sarentu and Ri'nela, revealing that she helped Mercer carry out the massacre out of a desire to ensure the TAP program's success and that she has regretted her decision ever since.

The RDA increases its efforts to extract oil from Pandora, prompting the Sarentu and the Resistance to investigate what the RDA is truly up to. They learn that Mercer intends to detonate explosives beneath the surface of Pandora, opening the entire land up for extraction and depriving the Na'vi clans of the native fauna that sustains them. With no other choice, the various Na'vi clans unite together and assault Mercer's base while the Sarentu infiltrates from the caves below. Teylan, who initially sided with Mercer, switches sides back to the Resistance. Working together, The Sarentu and Teylan sabotage the bomb and trap Mercer, leaving him to die in the explosion. In the aftermath, the RDA retreats from the region, and the Sarentu, Ri'nela, and Teylan decide to focus on rebuilding the Sarentu clan.

Development
In March 2017, Massive announced that its next major game would be based on James Cameron's Avatar. The game was titled Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora with a trailer at E3 2021. Its story stands alone within the Avatar universe, with "some elements that will pay off when Avatar 3 comes out".

Release
In a 2021 investor call, it was revealed that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was tentatively set to release in the fiscal year of April 2022 to March 2023. In July 2022, it was delayed to the fiscal year of April 2023 to March 2024. The Ubisoft Forward June 2023 video revealed a release date of December 7, 2023.

Critical response
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora received "mixed or average" reviews from critics for the PlayStation 5 and PC versions, while the Xbox Series X/S version received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. 53% of critic reviews recommended the game on OpenCritic.

GameSpot praised the game's open world, movement mechanics, combat, crafting and story, but criticized its "over-reliance" on Na'vi vision, closed-area combat and investigation system, stating that the game got "countless Far Cry comparisons". Kotaku Australia noted the mostly positive reviews and called it "The Okayest Game of 2023".

Sales
In the United Kingdom, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora debuted at fifth place in the physical charts. The next week, it fell to 12th place after a 53% decrease in sales.

In Japan, 8,363 physical copies of the PlayStation 5 version were sold within its first week, making it the 12th-best-selling retail game of the week in the country.

According to Insider Gaming, the game has 1.9 million players and estimated $133 million in revenue.